Will be interesting to see if they ever do start brewing their own. Do like they beer they get from Fenders.
Tap Rooms Iowa
- Thread starter dmclone
- Start date
I live in NEIA, and all of our locals are pretty good. I’m not sure where all this bad beer is, but up here we’re pretty spoiled. Most of what we see through distribution is Singlespeed, TG, Big Grove. I’ve had beer all over the country, and per capita there are few places doing better than Iowa. IMO, there are probably at least 10 generally excellent breweries here.
I do agree that overall it seems like hazy IPAs are nowhere near as good as they were 6-7 years ago, and I have no interest in pastry anything at this point. Psuedo Sue today is much heavier and sweeter to me than it was in 2013. Seems like this applies to damn near any hazy. Easy Eddy is probably still my favorite, but it seems like it used to be better.
I’ve said for awhile that breweries whose model is based around being a place to go/neighborhood/small town gathering place are more well positioned than the ones trying to blow up and battle for regional shelf space. Interesting that craft beer sales are tanking nationally, because I know I’ve personally gone away from drinking it at home much. So much of it is just so god damn caloric.
Oh maybe it is? For some reason I was thinking Fenders. But could be wrong. Reclaimed is good too though.
My current Iowa Top 10:
Lua
Pulpit
Confluence
Alluvial
Big Grove
Dimensional
Marto
Singlespeed
Lion Bridge
TG
That can hold up to any state’s top 10.
And there are probably 20 breweries I didn’t list that make some great beers. I did visit a really bad new brewery this summer that I’m not gonna call out publicly because they were pretty newly opened. But there are definitely some bad ones out there. Just seems to me like they’re either the minority, don’t last long, and if they do survive it’s because they have a captive market.
Lua
Pulpit
Confluence
Alluvial
Big Grove
Dimensional
Marto
Singlespeed
Lion Bridge
TG
That can hold up to any state’s top 10.
And there are probably 20 breweries I didn’t list that make some great beers. I did visit a really bad new brewery this summer that I’m not gonna call out publicly because they were pretty newly opened. But there are definitely some bad ones out there. Just seems to me like they’re either the minority, don’t last long, and if they do survive it’s because they have a captive market.
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Yeah Iowa has plenty of good beer. That’s probably my top 10 also in a different order and maybe Adventurous replacing Dimensional just because I haven’t been there.
Firetrucker seems content to be nothing more than a bike trail/party brewery, especially since Heidersheit passed. Standard, average, easy to drink rotation of releases, not a whole lot special going on. Excellent space for gathering and ideal location. Which tbh is a fine business model that will probably keep them going
I got 52722 from Adventurous this weekend. It's stupid good. Sounds like it would be right up Al's alley. I'm not a fan of sweet and malty hazys either.
Iowa has some very good breweries. Every state has some that suck. I definitely think there will be an overall contraction of breweries. Especially in cities since there are so many options. Usually suburbs just have like 1 around so those will continue to do well.
Tend to agree, but Kansas City alone is great per capita for breweries. Boulevard and KC Bier Co are obviously the big dogs in town but Cinder Block, Casual Animal, Stockyards, Alma Mader are all great. Highly recommend Casual Animal when everyone heads down to the Big 12 tournament, it's really big open space that you can hangout in for hours plus they have KC Wine Co's Sangria for any none beer drinkers in the group.
One of my last trips I stopped into City Barrel and thought it was good.
As one who lives in Ankeny I can agree with that.
I can't believe the Des Moines Metro area keeps adding more breweries.
Downtown area alone.
Big Grove
Lau
Confluence
Exile
1717
Peacetree
Twisted Vine
Court Avenue
Then add...
Fox
Barntown
515
Firetrucker
Reclaimed
Fenders
Brightside
I'm sure I'm missing a ton still. Most of them have at least 1 good beer, but I'm finding it hard to justify spending $6 to $7 for a glass of beer. I know prices have gone up, and with personal incomes essentially falling, I can't see how all of these will stay open.
Downtown area alone.
Big Grove
Lau
Confluence
Exile
1717
Peacetree
Twisted Vine
Court Avenue
Then add...
Fox
Barntown
515
Firetrucker
Reclaimed
Fenders
Brightside
I'm sure I'm missing a ton still. Most of them have at least 1 good beer, but I'm finding it hard to justify spending $6 to $7 for a glass of beer. I know prices have gone up, and with personal incomes essentially falling, I can't see how all of these will stay open.
It's notable that we aren't really seeing many new startup breweries anymore though. That was slowing down even before covid put the nail in anything new for awhile.
What expansion we are getting is big dogs coming in from elsewhere in the state to put stakes down in Des Moines. That's a pretty different business than the smaller startups.
Yeah that is true... I don't blame them one bit for expanding now that they are established.
Small batch brewing is so much easier than large volume. People can rag on Bud Light/Busch Light but those are some of the best brewers in the world because there is almost no variation from batch to batch.
The seltzer and RTD cocktails are putting a hurting on craft beer. I'm really connected to the business and this has been on the horizon for quite a few years. There is almost zero brand loyalty among craft beer geeks, it's all about what's new. So much of the alcohol business is built around forced unsustainable growth, its a very much so a push business model from the supplier level.
I can't even imagine what that patio at Big Grove cost to put in! That set up is really solid.
I think it's worth noting the places that serve food will be set up to succeed but the stand alones won't make it. I was actually pretty surprised that Twisted Vine opened a new location after they lost their WDM building. I would have taken the money and ran.
